Ronnie Drever works as a Forest Ecologist with The Nature Conservancy's Canada Program. Ronnie immigrated to Canada at a young age and spent his formative years in Toronto, ON. He studied Biology and Geography at Queen's University, and later moved to Vancouver to complete a Master's in Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University. After several years working as a biologist and researcher in various parts of British Columbia, he moved to Montreal and in 2008 completed a Ph.D. in Biology at UQAM. Ronnie lives in Wakefield, QC, with his wife, Meredith, and their two children. [back to top]

Don Gordon [back to top]

Will Horter is the Executive Director of Dogwood Initiative -- an organization working to implement sustainable land reform. Will received his law degree Summa Cum Laude from the University of California, after completing a B.A from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire where he majored in Anthropology and Third World studies. Prior being called to the BC Bar in 1995, Will worked extensively as a community and labour organizer around the world. He also serves on the board of numerous international, national and provincial non-profits. His passion is helping local people solve local problems. He lives in Victoria, with his wife, daughter, incorrigible dog and two cats. [back to top]

Gillian McEachern is the Climate and Energy Program at Environmental Defence. She studied biology at McMaster University and completed a Masters in Forest Conservation at the University of Toronto. Gillian worked on boreal forest issues for several years, first with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and then with ForestEthics, before moving into climate and energy work. These days her focus is on the federal government's role in the tar sands. Gillian grew up in Toronto, and recently relocated to Ottawa. [back to top]

Chris Miller Chris Miller is the National Manager for Wilderness Conservation and Climate Change for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. His research and conservation work focus on expanding the protected areas system in Nova Scotia and improving forestry practices. Chris holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Waterloo, and a combined Honours B.Sc. degree in biology and earth sciences from Dalhousie University. He led the successful campaign to designate the public lands of Blue Mountain – Birch Cove Lakes as a legally-protected wilderness area, securing a vast track of wilderness only 10km from downtown Halifax. Chris has also championed the protection of many other conservation sites in Nova Scotia and has helped advance progressive wetland, coastal, and climate change policies. Chris is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University and a science advisor for the Nova Scotia Crown Share Land Legacy Trust Fund and the Nova Scotia Nature Trust. [back to top]

Susan Minnemeyer is the World Resource Institute’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Lab Manager. Much of her work at WRI has been for the international Global Forest Watch network. In this role, she has produced maps and databases for reports on forests in Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Alaska, and Canada that describe the state of the forests and provide information on concessions, protected areas, and forest condition. In Cameroon, Susan worked with colleagues, partners, and Cameroon’s Ministry of Forests and Wildlife to create the first Interactive Forestry Atlas of Cameroon, which made national data on forest management publicly available for the first time. She is working on a similar project to improve transparency and accountability in the management of forests in Indonesia. Susan has led GIS training sessions in Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, and Indonesia to improve capacity to use GIS as a tool for improved decision making.
Susan received a Master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, where she majored in conservation biology/landscape ecology and studied GIS applications for conservation. [back to top]

Geoffrey Quaile Geoffrey Quaile has worked closely with the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) for the past 15 years. He is currently serving as a Senior Advisor on Natural Resource issues for the Grand Council. This involves serving as a board member for the Crees on the Cree-Quebec Forestry Board and participation in various cross governmental tables on mining, public land management and Cree-Quebec relations. Prior to these duties, Geoffrey was intimately involved in the Grand Council's legal and public relations efforts regarding forestry and hydroelectric development. Geoffrey's undergraduate (Trent) degree was in Environmental and Natural Resource Studies and he holds an M.E.S. specializing in Communication from York University. [back to top]

Alan Young For the last 19 years Alan has worked as a facilitator, planner, analyst and activist with a wide range conservation groups, Aboriginal organizations, companies and governments across Canada. His focus has been on sustainability strategies for the extractive sector which has involved projects throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. In 1991 he worked as coordinator of the joint federal/territorial and Aboriginal government Porcupine Caribou Co-Management Board in the Yukon. From 1994 to 2002, he served as Executive Director of the Environmental Mining Council of BC – a coalition of national, provincial and local conservation groups. In 2002, Alan left EMCBC to form the Materials Efficiency Research Group (www.merg.ca) in order to be able to focus on his interest in bringing different sectors together to build joint solutions to social and environmental issues in the extractive industries. Since 2003 a primary client has been the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI), where he serves a Corporate Program Director. CBI is a pan-Canadian multi-sector project addressing issues related to sustainability, conservation and Aboriginal rights. He currently serves as Chair of the Centre for Science in Public Participation, Director of Environmental Mining Education Foundation and is a member of the Mining Association of Canada’s Community of Interest Panel. He is the past chair of the Forest Stewardship Council of Canada. [back to top]

Peter Lee (Executive Director of Global Forest Watch Canada) has an MSc in ecology. He has had a career as a biologist and manager with the Alberta Government, a consultant for World Wildlife Fund Canada and instructor at the University of Alberta. Peter serves (and has served) as a director for many environmental organizations. When he's not working on (or reading about) conservation issues, Peter enjoys spending time with his family, especially when it involves movies, good food, and/or travelling to new and exciting places. His dogs also appreciate their daily walks with him in Edmonton's beautiful river valley. [back to top]

Jeannette Gysbers has a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from Concordia University College of Alberta. She started working for GFWC part-time in 2001, while she was still a student. She does much of the administration for GFWC, and has also contributed through layout/design, research, editing, website maintenance, and GIS work. In the past, Jeannette worked (as a summer student, 1999-2000) and volunteered (as a board member, 2003-2009) for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (Northern Alberta chapter). In addition to conservation, Jeannette's activities and interests include labour rights issues, photography, belly-dancing, yoga, and scuba. Jeannette's work at GFWC was scaled back significantly starting in the fall of 2009 when she welcomed her first child to her family. [back to top]

Matt Hanneman graduated from the University of Alberta in 2002 with a B.Sc. in Environmental Biology. He worked in several field research positions from 1999 to 2005, which included surveying American Redstart fecundity in fragmented landscapes, monitoring songbird and owl migration, and collecting inventory of colonial nesting water birds' nest locations for Alberta's Northwest boreal region. In 2006 he obtained an advanced degree in Geographic Information Systems from the Centre of Geographic Sciences, in Nova Scotia. He is also a director of a non-profit organization committed to bird conservation: the Beaverhill Bird Observatory. Matt lives in Edmonton, Alberta with his wife and two children. His favourite colour is green, he loves to eat Jell-O Jigglers, and he enjoys long walks on the beach. [back to top]

Ryan Cheng began working in the forests as a tree planter and has continued doing forestry fieldwork for the past several years. He participated in a CIDA internship with Global Forest Watch in Cameroon in 2006-2007 which involved assisting in updating datasets for that country's forestry atlas as well as developing the local community GIS capacity. Prior to that he volunteered at an AIDS service organization through which he spent some time in New Delhi as part of a work exchange program. Ryan graduated from the University of Alberta in 2003 with a BSc in Environmental Earth Science. [back to top]